An independent Russian television channel has uncovered a scheme to buy votes in an electronic ballot on constitutional amendments next month. Russians go to polls next week amid the coronavirus epidemic to vote for constitutional amendments that would allow Vladimir Putin to serve as Russia’s president for two more terms. Anxious to both hold the vote as soon as possible and also not to spread the disease further, Kremlin officials have ordered the voting to be held in the space of a week, and citizens in some of Russia’s regions including Moscow will be able to cast their ballots online. Television channel TV Rain published an investigation on Wednesday, detailing how its correspondent was able to join a WhatsApp group involved in potential vote buying. The TV Rain correspondent was given 25 sim-cards and granted access to a database with personal data of dozens of elderly people, aged 60 to over 100, all residing in Moscow’s north-west. With the sim-cards and full personal data, the TV Rain reporter was able to set up several accounts on the Moscow City Hall’s official website and go through verification that would allow the owner of the accounts to cast the ballot online next week. TV Rain reported that the scheme’s organisers were paying 75 rubles (just £1) per each account registered and 50 rubles per each ballot cast. Neither the Moscow City Hall, nor the election authorities were available for immediate comment. A potential voter needs to submit their personal details such as their ID, social security number, registered address and the phone number in order to set up an account to vote next week. But they do not have to verify their identity in person. Moscow officials who introduced electronic voting at local elections last year insist that it is secure and that all data are verified. Vasily Vaisenberg, an election expert at election monitors’ movement Golos, said that registering voters’ accounts without in-person verification is an invitation to vote rigging: “The only solution would be to allow the voting only for those with complete, verified accounts: Otherwise, it’d be hard to imagine how many fake voters will cast ballots in Moscow’s electronic voting.”